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TX - William, 52, & Margaret Patterson, 42, El Paso, 5 March 1957

Former police detective Freddie Bonilla re- creates a scene in a West Side home's garage, where he thinks a couple who disappeared in 1957 were killed...

The disappearance of William and Margaret Patterson has been a mystery to the police and El Paso for nearly 50 years. It has inspired urban legends, wild stories of espionage and even tales of UFO abductions.

Their old house in the 3000 block of Piedmont was known by generations of El Pasoans as the "haunted house." Over the years, several theories emerged to explain what happened to them: They were kidnapped, they met with foul play, they left everything behind to start a new life elsewhere, they were spies or they were abducted by space aliens.

Now the mystery has taken another turn: The El Paso sheriff's and police departments are taking a new look at the case, which began in March 1957.

(If anyone can get a picture of these people, please send to me, I can't profile them on my site otherwise, and I don't think the Doe Network can either.)

I was researching another case and came upon this one quite by accident. It's fascinating. Problem is, I can't seem to find anything about the Pattersons. It's like whatever info was out there is no longer available. Makes me wonder if they WERE spies and the government doesn't want anyone snooping around.

Circumstances of Disappearance
William and and Margaret Patterson left their home at 3000 Piedmont Avenue the night of March 5, 1957, or possibly early the next morning, without the slightest indication they intended to be away more than a few hours.
The house was found in disarray, with dishes unwashed, underwear and a pair of Mrs. Patterson's stockings on a bed, and other indications the Pattersons did not know they were leaving for a long time. Tommy, the yellow-and-white cat that was Mrs. Patterson's most precious possession, also was left behind. Their automobiles were left at their house. There was no sign of a struggle.

Associates of the Pattersons told authorities in the 1950s that the couple left to go on an extended vacation to Florida, and later, that they sent word that they weren't coming back.
A friend of the Pattersons, reported the couple missing August 15, 1957, five months after they were last seen in El Paso.
El Paso authorities convened a rare court of inquiry, also known as an inquest, to look into the couple's whereabouts, but the inquiry failed to find them.
The Pattersons owned Patterson Photo Supply near Downtown. Patterson also owned an interest in a high-end boat company, property in Guaymas, Mexico, the house, a boat and a Cadillac.
Patterson associates told police that William Patterson had sent written instructions on how he wanted to dispose of his business and private properties. A letter signed "W.D. Patterson" stated that Patterson wanted his properties to be distributed among Doyle D.G. Kirkland, a friend and manager of Duffy's Photo Supply store; his business auditor; and an employee of Patterson who was 24 at the time.
It was unusual for Patterson to leave his property to those people, considering that he had at least two living relatives at the time, his father and a sister.
Kirkland was the last person who was at the Patterson house before the couple vanished. He was helping Patterson work on his boat in the garage at the house.

Several sightings of the couple were reported in Mexico and the United States, but sheriff's officials were never able to confirm any of them.
The case was reopened in 1984 when an undocumented worker who was hired to clean the home after the Pattersons vanished said he saw blood under and around the water heater in the gagage, and a piece of human scalp on the propeller of Patterson's boat.
He found a pair of jeans with a Rolex watch that belonged to Patterson, and said he also saw one of Patterson's associates remove bloody sheets from the home and put them inside the trunk of a car. He did not talk to police sooner because he was an illegal immigrant at the time.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Patterson house in El Paso Definitley HAUNTED!!!

I discovered the Websleuths website this morning while talking with my brother this morning. We were talking about all the violence across the border from El Paso, when we got on the subject of the haunted house (Patterson's) that we lived in, in El paso, Texas as children back in the summer of 1963. I Googled "Patterson house El Paso, TX" and found the websleuth website. I had no idea the house was so famous!

If anyone is interested, we were the first family to live in the house after the Pattersons had disappeared. We lived there for 1-2 months from August to September, 1963. The house was completely furnished - I mean completely from clothes in the closets - to silverware in the drawers, exactly as the Pattersons had left it.

My Dad was a steel worker, worked at Border Steel between Anthony and El Paso Texas (don't know if it is still there or not). Picture this, my Dad was not afraid of anything, was in WWII, steel worker like I said, in fact managed a bunch of very rough-tough men, you had to be one rugged sob to tame that crowd.

One night as Dad lay in bed, a woman came into his bedroom and walked around the bed and stared at him. He could see her looking at him, so he laid still thinking it was a probably a neighbor that had come over to visit with my Mom, us being new in the neighborhood and all. My Mom was still downstairs, and Dad thought the neighbor was lost - maybe she was trying trying to find the restroom and came into the bedroom by mistake. My Dad didn't want to embarrass her, so he lay still for a few minutes - and she left - and he fell asleep. The next morning when my dad asked my mom about the neighbor coming over to visit, mom told him no one had been over the night before and thought he was dreaming! An easy assumption after a hard days work I suppose.

That might have been the end of it had my mom not come into my oldest sister's room one night wearing a fluffy black dress with a veil over her face to pay her a visit!! Turned out she was not my Mom!!! My sister screamed bloody murder and woke the whole house up.

My older brother and I slept in the fully furnished basement room - furnished complete with fireplace that had the CHIMNEY FILLED SOLID with CONCRETE!!! Swear on a stack of bibles!! I kept having nightmares and had to move upstairs in my parents room. I was six years old but I remember the house clearly as if it was yesterday.

As I said previously, we were only there a couple of months - at the most. My Dad, Mom, sisters, brother and myself were freaked out! There was defintely some strange stuff happening there!

Our family wound up moving to a little dumpy house in Anthony,TX and paying more in rent........but we had no ghosts!

True story. Anyone care to look it up? Should be on record:
The Smith family - August 1963

They do state, however, that there is a very remote chance of ever solving it.

"What though the radiance which was once so bright, be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower: we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind." William Wordsworth